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An environmentally friendly scrub product that does what it says!

In the last couple of months I've been trying to do my bit to reduce the amount of power I use in my flat and largely the experiment has been going well, only leaving out post it notes to remind myself to switch everything that's plugged in, off. I've also been making an extra effort in trying to use homemade cleaning products or source environmentally friendly products so that I'm not knocked out by fumes, over spending and for the most part, most natural ingredients are easy to get and are cheap to buy.

So, when it comes to cleaning the bath and tiles, I've had my E-Cloth mop out to wash the large areas whilst the bath gets a steam cleaner to get rid of all the grey lime scale and hard water marks off. It is a pity that when the landlord decided to swap the kitchen over for the existing bathroom, he forgot about putting a window in! This means ventilated air from a dust catching fan that's not only noisy but does little to stop me from getting a steam facial each time I attempt to crawl around the bath to attack dirt! Help however has come from Method, a company I've only just got to know through reading reviews on here and of the two products I've so far bought, one of them is the rather nattily tilted "Tub Scrub."

Tub Scrub is an environmentally friendly bath cleaning cream made up from a collection of herbs and natural ingredients not least Eucalyptus oil and finely milled marble. Wait a moment? Finely milled marble? A granite mineral ground down to clean tiles and baths? Such an additive had me intrigued to say the least! The product does hold a lot of claims not least being "future friendly," that goes as far to say that it "makes for happy pipes and happy fish," and that the product further claims to be so environmentally friendly you'd wish you could test this on yourself! It is thus biodegradable, non-toxic and based on the international standard OECD 301D. It hasn't been tested on animals either although it does carry warnings that if it is swallowed seek medical advice immediately.

The shape of the bottle is actually one of the most unique if not truly identifiable by its strange rabbit like ears that adorn the product's top. This is purely for owners to stack their sponges or desired scrubbing pad into the space created and is for a better part of the design, convenient, practical and quite nifty! It has provided a talking point with some of my mates though; people often asking me who the ears belong to and I casually reply "oh that's Bugsy Tubs-Scrubs!" All contained in a large 680g smooth tactile plastic finish tube with a flip off plastic catch and a nice, pastel green colouring to match its Eco-associations, Tub Scrub by Method is usually priced at £3 and I bought mine at John Lewis.

The first problem I had was getting the cream out of the tube! The large tube is easy to hold but the top has a screw lid with a rubber nipple (similar to shower gels with purpose built dispersal caps) that can sometimes get too clogged up. Once I took the top off and gave it wash, screwing the cap back on, the tube is a bit better in squeezing the cream out and once you've removed your desired sponge, the "ears" help to prop up the tube if you place it upside down to loosen the cream. Even in the initial stages of using this product, the tube is disconcertingly heavy and those with gripping problems may find it difficult getting the cream out. As for that "finely milled marble," the cream is very white in colour and impossible to see the grains, yet the consistency is slightly grainy to the touch.

I am delighted to find that it makes no scratches whatsoever on my porcelain/ceramic bath whilst on tiles the cream goes on easily and disappears into the associated substances. Sadly this isn't a miracle cream that once applied shifts the dirt for you and I found just as I have done with previous cleaning products that the cream has to have some manual labour applied to get the dirt off. It does the job of cleaning with the smallest amount needed however so it does last longer than other creams on the market. The smell of the cream is quite refreshing too with a good mix of Eucalyptus and mint that never overtakes and is pleasing to clean with although Tub Scrub doesn't have a long lasting scent after all the cleaning has been done, it is at best neutral and fresh. Eucalyptus and Mint by their own accord are both natural anti-bacterial agents that are also fresh and clean to the nose.

It was on hard water areas on tiles just above the main bathroom taps where my tiles seem to get the worst of water marks that their smoothness came up after the cream was scrubbed away, revealing smooth to the touch tiles where upon before it was scarred with water marks and limescale. Grey water tides in the bath and bath scum marks that are always a right old bug**r to shift came up sparkling and clean, and in less than an hour when it usually takes me more to clean with steam (and wipe down my brow and wipe down my neck from steamed sweat) my bath looked better from the day I had initially moved in! Of course, I've attacked the wash basin with Method's Tub Scrub too and the basin has since been very easy to keep clean as well as being rewarded with that fresh natural ingredients scent all the time. Once the cream has been washed away I tend to shower down everything so that the water flows downwards taking the product away. It is here that the Tub Scrub does lather up and I was shocked to see all the dirt as the bath filled up lift up and get taken with the rest of the flow. The product is also good for your pipes, taking away deposits naturally. Tide marks really are a thing of the past but it also comes down to the type of scourer you use; I use the kitchen type ones that have thick foam sponge and the green plastic rough scourer on top. Previous chemical laden creams I've used in the past tend to destroy these kinds of cleaning pads so it is good to see that this cream doesn't do that and thus it is infinitely possible to just keep using the same pad, also saving you more money in the long run.

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An environmentally friendly product that works and smells good.

METHOD Tub Scrub bath cleaner

===HOW DO I FIND THIS? ===

I bought mine from Tesco for £2.94 for the bottle with 680g of cleaner in it. I was attracted to this for two reasons. The first being the rather strange looking pale minty green bottle with its two feet that it stands on which I thought was quirky. Since then I have discovered that the feet are 'ears' that are designed to hold the sponge for cleaning the bath with. My sponge had happily stood beside the previous bottles but is now proudly wedged in the 'ears' of my Tub Scrub bottle. The second thing that attracted me to this product was that it is one of the Method brand range which are kinder to the environment and I do try to do my bit whenever I can to help save our planet.

=== WHAT DOES THIS PRODUCT DO?===

This is a bath and tile cleaner which uses powerful "finely milled marble" as its active cleaning ingredient which sounds such pure quality as an ingredient. We have a plastic bath which seems to scratch very easily and so I am quite careful what I use to clean it with as I don't want to risk damaging it anymore than it already has been damaged by my bracelets and rings! I do now take them all off before I have a bath but I didn't realise what they were doing to the bath until it was too late!It is a gentle abrasive with a lovely fresh smell of eucalyptus and mint which are fresh and herby. The eucalyptus is also a mild natural disinfectant which is always a plus in bathrooms.

=== BENEFITS OF THIS AS OPPOSED TO OTHER BATHROOM CLEANERS ===This product is advertised as "Future Friendly", it has not been tested on animals and it is biodegradable based on the international standard OECD 301D.It is non toxic and made from natural ingredients which they say "makes for happy pipes and happy fish".Not only is the product "Future friendly" but the container is also 100 recyclable and made from 25% recycled plastic.

It also says that the product will make the bathroom smell less like a public swimming pool and more like a spa. Not sure about the smelling like a spa but it certainly smells a lot nicer that other chlorine and chemical cleaners.The warning on the product description says "Warning may inspire skinny dipping". Well I don't know about you but I do tend to use my bath while wearing no clothes so this is a little tongue in cheek!

It does however smell very pleasantly herbal rather than strongly bleachy which I think is a big plus as i love the herby smell. It smells very like a herbal shampoo that I used to use in Australia bought from a posh hair dresser so i am very impressed.

=== HOW TO USE === The Tub scrub cream smells lovely and is a pale cream colour. It's a reasonably thick cream, but not so thick that it can't be squeezed from the up tuned bottle. The milled marble grains are really small and not coarse or rough but they do a good job of removing the soap scrum and tide marks from our bath.I apply tub scrub to bath cleaning sponge then gently rub the bath tub especially in the areas of most soap scum finelly I rinse it all well . Then as instructed I "park the bottle on the end of the tub as a chic accessory with a built-in sponge holder." I have to say that no-one has yet commented on my 'chic accessory' but there is still time.

=== HEALTH AND SAFETY WARNING ===

IF SWALLOWED SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE IMMEDIATELY AND SHOW THIS CONTAINER OR LABEL.

=== WHERE CAN I BUY TIS AND AT WHAT COST? ===

This product is currently selling in Tesco, B&Q and Homebase for £2.94, which I think is an okay price for a natural, non earth damaging bio degradable bath cleaner.

===SUMMARY===

I really like this bath cleaner as it is environmentally friendly and effective. It works well and it smells nice, gentle and herb like. There is also a very novel bottle with an unusual pair of feet which when up turned becomes a sponge storage slot which while not essential, is certainly one way of keeping the sponge with the cleaner in a neat and tidy way. It is also a reasonable price for a bio degradable, natural, environmentally friendly bath cleaner. The bottle is also a bit different and looks nice in the bathroom as it is a pale subtle minty green with two 'feet' or 'ears' depending on which way up you choose to store the bottle.

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Cleans the house *and* looks good!

Lets discuss my bath. No, really, lets. I live in an Edinburgh tenement flat, with a bathroom that lacks any natural light and a landlord that lacks any common sense and won't replace a clapped-out old bath suite. So the bath is old, and the bath gets grimy. Actually, that's being a little polite: the bath seems to suck up dirt from not only the daily showers we have standing in it, but from the flats next door, the street outside, and the whole city... in fact, the whole universe. I'd go so far as to say that the stain on your shirt from where you dropped your sauce down your front will end up in my bath tomorrow.

So cleaning has become something of a challenge. Conventional cleaners take one look at our bathroom and run out of the flat, screaming in horror. "No-one can clean that, it's impossible!" they cry, as they shimmy down the drainpipe. In the years Before Method (BM), the only real candidate for the job was Cillit Bang. Oh, Cillit Bang. The only cleaner you'll actually get embarrassed buying in a shop, the only cleaner that has been known to make kids hyperactive just by having them look at the colour of it and the only cleaner that doesn't consider a job truly done until three layers of skin have been removed from your hands. Also the only cleaner to smell so atrocious that it reliably gave me an asthma attack every time I cleaned the bath so, as you'll imagine, it wasn't a brilliant option.

And then, along came Method. I started with the surface spray, because it had a pretty bottle. I moved on to the tub scrub not only for the beautifully designed bottle (it has a cloth holder. A CLOTH HOLDER! I didn't know I needed that, but it turns out that I did.) but for the promise of powerful "finely milled marble", which somehow manages to make scrubbing sound sophisticated. With a giant quirt of Method, and a little bit of elbow grease, the bath became cleaner than it has been since before we moved in - tide and shower mat marks gone, and all skin left entirely in place. The scent is fresh, and not too overpowering; more like bath salts than bath cleaner. There was a slightly worrying moment when I realised that there were white stripes on my trousers where the scrub had touched the fabric, but unlike those from bleach, the marks faded and the trousers now look as good as... well, as good as bathroom scrubbing trousers can ever look!

I admit it: this is no miracle worker. You need that elbow grease, and it's not lying when it calls it a tub *scrub*. But it shifts the grime better than most cleaners on the market, and without the insane chemical overload that will leave you hallucinating. It's not particularly cheap, either, at around £4 for 680g, but it lasts for months of scrubbing and looks much better sitting next to the bath than even the gym-honed physique of Mr Muscle...

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Lots of style and a little bit of substance!

I'm not a big fan of cleaning in general and the bathroom is my least favourite job of all! I try to find ways to make the whole experience more enjoyable and part of that is trying out new cleaning products, particularly those that imply that less hard work is involved in using them or just seem something a bit out of the ordinary to brighten up the tedium of cleaning.

I must confess, the first thing that caught my eye when I spotted the Method Tub Scrub bath cleaner in B&Q was the unusual design of the container. It comes in a large hard plastic tube, standing upright on its lid and has what look like two upside-down legs sticking out of the top! I had to pick the bottle up just to see what it actually was. I suspect this was what the manufacturers had in mind when they designed the packaging and, if so, it worked for me. I was still confused as to what purpose the sticking up legs served and I had to read right to the bottom of the blurb on the back to discover that they were a 'built-in sponge holder'! Indeed, if you look at the image provided by Dooyoo, it shows a scouring pad being lodged in the middle of the gap. How on earth did we ever manage without one of these before?!

Whilst looking for the reason behind the bottle's unusual design, I was impressed by some of the information listed on the bottle - in particular, the claim that the contents were natural, non-toxic and biodegradable. I like to strike a balance between using cleaning products that actually work effectively and avoiding adding too many nasty chemicals to our water supply, so this interested me. What finally clinched the purchase was the bottle's claim that it contained 'finely milled marble' and that the scent of the stuff would leave my bathroom smelling like a spa. Anything that makes my bathroom smell less like a bathroom, even a freshly cleaned one, seemed worth a try.

So, is this cleaner all style and no substance? Well, not entirely but I can't say that it performed any miracles in the bathroom. To be fair, my bath isn't all that dirty so it wasn't put through a 'How Clean is Your House?' style challenge. I did have a visible tidemark in the bath though and I applied the Tub Scrub onto a microfibre cloth, as suggested on the bottle, and gave the bath a gentle scrub, again as suggested. The cleaner had a cream-like consistency, which squirts out with some force, although it didn't produce any lather as such. I was hoping that this would be one of those miracle products that would instantly dissolve any dirt and grime on contact but, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The cleaner did eventually tackle the tidemark but with the help of a bit more elbow grease than I'd have liked to apply! I can't see that the 'finely milled marble' had any amazing cleaning qualities, although the cream did have a slightly gritty texture, so I was surprised that it wasn't more abrasive than it turned out to be.

As for the fragrance, I wouldn't say that my bathroom smelt quite like a spa after I'd finished using it but I have to admit that the scent is much more pleasant and less chemical and synthetic smelling than your average bathroom cleaner. The fragrance claims to be 'eucalyptus mint.' I'm not too sure what eucalyptus smells like but I wouldn't say this was particularly minty at all. If anything, it has a strong herbal scent, similar to the original formula of Radox bath salts, so I suppose it does leave behind a smell that you'd associate with having baths rather than cleaning them. Handy for those occasions when you've had to rush around cleaning at the last minute but want to give the impression that your house is always left in that state and hasn't been freshly cleaned.

The Tub Scrub smells pleasant, does clean (although doesn't work miracles, sadly) and the bottle looks very funky sitting in my bathroom - much more attractive than a bottle of Mr Muscle or Cif! I probably wouldn't rush to buy this product again though, unless I found it for sale at a particularly cheap price. I paid £3.88 for a 680g bottle from B&Q (which I'd imagine will last me for ages) and it is available for around the same price at certain branches of Tesco and Homebase too. I would certainly give other products in this range a try though as I do like the philosophy behind the Method company, mainly the natural ingredients and 'green' credentials. As you'd expect, neither this product nor any in the Method range have been tested on animals and the packaging is 100% recyclable. More information about the range and local stockists can be found on the Method website at www.methodproducts.co.uk